Chris

Three Moves Ahead 163: Fifty, Alive, and King

Recommended Posts

Decided to try out Crusader Kings II. I was playing as the Duke of Bavaria and for a while I was heir to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire for no reason I could ascertain, had no idea how to achieve my goal of becoming Chancellor, was moving armies around at random trying to catch some daft southern European rebels of some sort... basically I have no idea what's going on.

I could really use some direction to help me figure out what I'm even supposed to be doing to begin with in this game, and what basic information sets are going to be useful. Does anyone have any advice or links to some good intro guides?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

To reach a goal like that, you need to know if your character is even good for the job - a chancellor is a pretty plum position and the HRE has lots of guys to choose from. Then you suck up to the Emperor and follow him in all things.

This is, however, a long distance ambition - don't think of it as a quest you have to fulfill, because you don't and you won't be penalized if you don't meet it. You can even change ambitions after a few years. It gives you nice bonuses if you do, but it's not a huge priority.

For a Duke in a large kingdom or Empire, your general goal is to weaken the power of your liege so you can have a freer hand at acquiring the loyalty of nearby counts, or just grabbing other ducal titles.

Click on your Court (the crown icon in the upper left) and see how you can use your advisors. The "Fabricate Claim" power of your chancellor is one you will use from time to time to expand your power since you can only really make hay out of attacking lands where you have a legal claim to authority.

Check your family. Is your heir weak? Is there a stronger heir you want to in power in a generation or two? How can you make that happen?

Look around for neighbors that have only daughters as heirs - in a generation or two, with the right succession laws and the right marriage, these lands can fall into your lap.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think choosing between EU3 and CK2 as intro game comes down to a couple of things.

First, as Rob says, personal interest and background knowledge trumps just about everything when it comes to getting into strategy games. So, if there is something to work with in that area then follow it as long as you can.

Second, I think EU3 is better for people that are familiar with strategy gamers. It has many of the same conventions you see in something like Civilization or even basics like Risk. Making the leap from there isn't too bad.

For those that haven't become accustomed to raising armies and painting maps their preferred color, CK2 works because it is about people. In addition, the vague mechanics it has don't seem to bother many non-strategy gamers as much because they aren't used to breaking down and analyzing games as systems yet.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

First time listener so didn't think it would be good to jump into the PAX show straight away, but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the cast and thought there were some very interesting discussions that highlighted just what was going on in Crusaders even without me ever playing it, so I kind of related to it even if I didn't really know. That's the best.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
First time listener so didn't think it would be good to jump into the PAX show straight away, but on the whole I thoroughly enjoyed the cast and thought there were some very interesting discussions that highlighted just what was going on in Crusaders even without me ever playing it, so I kind of related to it even if I didn't really know. That's the best.

The PAX show is not so much a typical TMA episode as it is a general show about the state of strategy games, so I'd say it's actually a great entry point.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Just for the record, I totally called an Islam-themed expansion. ;)

Well, it was going to be that or Byzantium. I'm more excited about the expanded feature list, fingers crossed that the AI will be able to take advantage of it.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now